Left Right

I'm trying to get a feel for what most think is proper way to straight razor shave with regard to using your left hand for the left side of your face and the right for the right side of your face?

I've been shaving fine with just my right, but the more and more I shave, the more and more I see that the devils in the details and a constant switching of angle against the face, angle to the horizontal, portion of the blade that touches your face (back, middle, tip of edge), and even a switching of which side of the blade you use is needed. Again the more I shave the more I see that this is best done if I was ambidextrous.

Also when I start shaving the right side of my face at the begining, my hand is blinding me and it be easier if I used my left hand. I basically have to have the blade perpendicular to the mirror so at least I have a side view of whats going on.

While I'm at it, talking about switching sides of the blade. On one side of my razor the bevel is like twice as wide as the other side is that normal? I know all that matters is the point or edge, but does the bevel depth matter?

Hello, well first up, there are no hard and fast rules - just do whatever suits. I use both hands, initially because I blocked my vision shaving one handed. It does take a bit of practice to use the non dominant hand, but I feel it has helped me. Try using your non dominant hand as often as you can for other tasks - cleaning your teeth, combing your hair, stirring your coffee or whatever just to try and become more familiar with it. When shaving with it, go back to basics and go VERY slowly at first, WTG on the side of the face and try to build up gradually. I'm sorry I dont know the answer to your bevel question but I guess if its shaving well then its ok if it is uneven. Good luck.

Hey Knife,

In general, it's easier to shave the right side of your face with your left hand, and vice versa. The more you use your off hand, the more dexterity it will develop. I use my left hand for an awkward backhanded pass under my right jawline and for an ATG pass up my right cheek. Someday it won't feel awkward.

About your uneven bevel--that's from more honing pressure on one side of the blade than on the other. I have to keep an eye on that in my own honing. I hold the hone in my left hand and stroke away then back towards myself. The return stroke has more pressure unless I concentrate on it. Before I got this under control, the bevel on that side was higher. There is matching wear on the spine--wider on the high-bevel side than on the low-bevel side.

If you're doing your own honing, then, that's what to watch for. If it's an old razor, this is an artifact of a single owner's lifelong honing peculiarity. If the bevel comes to a good point and you can hone/polish it to a shaving edge, it shouldn't be a problem.

Post a couple of pics if you can.

Best wishes

I hurt my shoulder just about the time I switched from safety razors to straights. I could not shave the right side of my face with my right hand it forced me to use both hands. I didn't think it was possible but now a year and a half later it's second nature. What Edgeof40 said there is no rule whatever works for you I believe the shaving police are a victim of budget cuts.

I know its all about what works for you, but if I get twenty replys and nineteen say they use their right and left hand equally then I know using both will probably work for me.

I know I like most people, are really good at some things and not so good at others, so it'd be nice to know, say that using both hands makes your shave experience and results twice as good, so that if using my left hand is one of the things I do badly, if I work really hard through it I can have a really good shave experince.

I though I would never be able to shave anything but my cheeks with a straight razor but I kept at it. I cannot believe how much I improved my technique with a straight razor. I did my experimenting on the weekend when I had time and before I knew it I got competent with the razor (I won't say master because I still have a lot to learn). Stick with it and only do what you feel comfortable doing.

I've been using a straight razor for only a few weeks, but I've learned a lot. Let me try to give you my observations as a novice, while they are still fresh in my mind.

I'm primarily left handed, but what could be called moderately ambidextrous.

What I've found after trying virtually every position and grip (including some that are at best comical to see) is that I can effectively shave 2/3 to 3/4 of my face with my left hand. For me, it was a matter of visibility. I can hold my razor and use it equally well with either hand, but its just more efficient to not switch hands whenever possible and also to have a clear view of exactly where the business end of my razor is at any given point. It seems to be paying off as I have nicked myself once in the first three weeks of learning.

Its hard to describe the exact grip I use on different parts of my face, but its always either index finger (and often middle finger) on the spine side of the jimps or the blade side of the jimps, depending on the direction of the cutting stroke.

In the end, I really think you're going to have to experiment and find the right approach for you. I know there are a lot of very experienced shavers here and they all have their preferences. Read what they have to say and try their suggestions till you find what works for you. I've come to the conclusion that there is no right way to do things, but there are a million wrong ways that can result in a bad shave, or even a cut.

Now, this is going to sound silly, but make yourself a practice "razor" I used two popsicle sticks with a pin joining them at one end. I can open them at the same angle as a real razor so it mimics it well and you can drag the popsicle stick all over your face without doing any damage. Pay attention to the angle you can maintain this way and it will give you a good idea as to whether you should or should not try any given grip or technique.

Hope this helps.

I've found most of this stuff is best not being too analyzed. You just do and you learn by doing and your facility improves and then one day a stroke you never did becomes easy. That's how I found things to be.

I'm left handed and do most of my face with my left hand but there are areas I do with my right and other areas I can just as easily do with my right as my left but most of us southpaws are way more ambidextrous than the rest of the population because we always have to adapt.

Much of this shaving thing is really done by feel so while not being able to see where the blade is going might be unnerving at first you will realize eventually you really don't need to see it. I used to use my finger as a guide in the circumstance. We used to have a member who was blind and he used a straight.

I've used both hands since I started. I'm lousy with my left hand, but it has come along nicely with shaving.

Regarding bevels, when I first started I received some blades done by honemeisters. The edges were almost
invisible. Mine were horribly tall. I've worked on that and now mine are hard to see too. The secret is using
no pressure except the weight of the blade itself. It also helps to go no lower (numerically) in grit than you
have to.

I tried to take pictures of my blade, but my camera won't take good pictures with an object that close, close enouph to capture the bevel.

As far as bevel depth, I would think that as the razor rest on the hone, which because of a straight razors concavity, only the spine and edge touch the hone, so that alone dictates the bevel depth. The spine precludes you from achieving a really deep bevel and unless you raise the spine you can't get a really small bevel. You woudn't, I would think, want to raise the spine because you risk ruining your edge, plus the spine helps you keep a uniformity in your work. In my case, if the above is right, I believe the razor was honed more on one side so that the edge was formed on the opposite side of the cross-sectional centerline and the other side was not worked on much.

Attachment 77215
Pardon the crude drawing.

It shaves fine, should I worry?

Speaking of bevel depth. I know each time you shave your hairs cause the bevel to look like Freddy Kruger let out some frustration and we strop to polish it back up, and that ware on the bevel is what causes discomfort in succesive shave without stroping. I'm not so sure if the edge is "fixed" by stroping, but it seems to me again if the above is right that the smaller the bevel the more easier it is to strop/polish the bevel back to shave readiness. On the other hand, a deep bevel seems to me would provide a smoother shave and a sharper point.

Hi Knife,

Good drawing! You're right about the spine acting as a honing guide. Someday you'll hone an old full wedge and that's where you really have to work hard to keep a narrow bevel.

Your drawing looks exactly like my edges would look if I hadn't gotten my heavy-handed return stroke corrected. Even the same side of the blade is worn.

I'm not sure bevel depth has any effect on stropping; in stropping most of the friction is from the spine against the leather and the shaving edge just follows along for the ride. At the edge, the strop surface snags, straightens, and smooths the little dings left from collisions with hairs. That's just my intuitive understanding, and intuition may well fail out at that microscopic little bit of the world.

Regarding the right/left question that was originally posted, my opinion is that using both hands is quite useful. I felt very awkward using my left at first, but I very quickly became almost as good with my left as with my right. I'm sure the learning curve is different for everyone, but now that I'm comfortable with both, I find myself switching hands quite a bit (withouth really thinking about it) as I try to get the best angle for various parts of my face. I consistently use the right hand for right cheeck and vice versa, then left hand for right neck and vice versa. For my chin and upper lip, I find myself switching hands more in order to get the right angles, especially when I'm touching up any missed spots after my standard WTG and XTG passes. Even if you find it difficult, I recommend sticking with it for a few weeks to see if you can get more comfortable with your off hand. I also brush my teeth left handed now for practice - seems to help.

That's great. You're much farther along on ambidextrous shaving than I am. I do it when absolutely necessary, which it is for a couple of spots, but not with great confidence yet.

I have learned to work many power tools with either hand, and can drive nails left-handed. Had to do that after I left white-collar world for construction around age 40. Since I hadn't spent a couple of decades building construction worker strength I've had to swap out the load so my right arm didn't suffer all the weird torques and slams.